A pillbox is a special container for storing scheduled doses of a patient's medications during the course of a certain time interval. In one form, a pillbox may take the form of an organizer which may typically have square shaped compartments for each day of the week, although other discreet forms have come to market in recent times, including cylindrical and pen-shaped cases. Pillboxes including those in the form of an organizer are viewed as a way to prevent or reduce medication errors on the part of the patient.
Pill organizers are useful for many patients including the elderly or those with memory deficiencies as well as those taking multiple medications as an aid in remembering to take proper timely doses of their medications. They allow a patient to know whether they have taken a particular dose of their medication since a pill remaining in its compartment visually indicates that it has not been taken whereas a missing pill likely has been taken.
Pill organizers often have various features that make them easier to use for those with special needs such as color-coding, braille for the blind, or a locking mechanism to prevent double dosing.
While there are many different types of pill organizers available to suit a variety of requirements, they tend to be relatively large in size making them less than ideal for busy patients who enjoy normal mobility. For such patients, it is not at all uncommon for them to be attending a doctor's appointment, going shopping, working out of the home, etc., where it is not practical to carry a large pill organizer in order to have medication available.
For busy, mobile patients who find it impractical to carry any of the available types of pill organizers with them at all times as they go through their normal daily routines, it is nonetheless important to have their medication available even during those times when they are out of the home in order to ensure strict compliance with a prescribed medication regimen.